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Kynochs

P

Ponz

Brummie babby
Looking for information on me Grandad who was killed at Kynochs by a live stray bullet in1943 I believe,a William Bishop, his name was on the war memorial outside the factory.
 
pjmburns said:
Do you know what his death cert gives as cause of death?
Click to expand...
Been speaking to my mom,she was about 6 when he died,he worked on the melting pots accidental I believe on death certificate.live bullet shot out ,she said easter time 1943,March or April,had a couple of brothers working there Harry and Albert,me mom said he saved a bloke who was falling into the melting pot once,he got burnt his self,got a letter from the company thanking him,also had a fight or two my mom said,someone put a dead mouse as a prank in his sandwich once lol,was a bit of a case by all accounts my mom got more info of her sister who was 6 years older then her
 
Ponz said:
Been speaking to my mom,she was about 6 when he died,he worked on the melting pots accidental I believe on death certificate.live bullet shot out ,she said easter time 1943,March or April,had a couple of brothers working there Harry and Albert,me mom said he saved a bloke who was falling into the melting pot once,he got burnt his self,got a letter from the company thanking him,also had a fight or two my mom said,someone put a dead mouse as a prank in his sandwich once lol,was a bit of a case by all accounts my mom got more info of her sister who was 6 years older then her
Click to expand...
Used to work there myself, there was two places this could have happened from what i know. The main foundry was attached to the Strip Mill, they was casting a wide range of non-ferrous metals. The other area was at the Rod Mill but i think they only processed copper. The bullet casing being made of brass would have gone, once used, back to the main foundry for reprocessing in very large scrap containers, almost impossible to spot a live one as it was emptied into the large crucible (melting pot}.
 
When a round cooks off in a fire the bullet itsself becomes the back stop
as the casing explodes sometimes the head will pop off with the afect of a spent bullet or the same after a though and though
Yes as kids we were always putting 303s
Into a fire as we found many when the tame was at low ebb
 
Hi

My first job when I left school in 1958 was in the Offices in the Rod Mill copper was smelted from scrap copper and some was turned into brass by adding I think it was zink and silicon. It then went into the mill itself where it was extruded into brazing rods, wind screen surrounds and curtain rails.I was the office boy ? filing clerk which I hated. I wasn't impressed with the office manager on Charley Craven with his big handlebar mustache, I was forever in trouble with him because i hated the bikes we w2ere given and so I tended to use my own which which according to him I was seen riding furiously on a number of ocasions.

A lasting memory I had from the place was Zink Monday. It is where when you are away from the furnaces where zink is melted you have a runny nose and cold like symptoms. I suffered with it for years after leaving. I supose now it would be classed ans an industrial injury.

The doctor told me it wont kill me I'm just going to have to get used to it.

Brian
 
Hi

Reading back through the thread reminded me I very occasionally had to go to "Burning Out". A section away from the main works close to the canal, where the ammunition was tested, there were two Bren Guns mounted on stands on concrete blocks, I would stand and watch for some time with the tracer rounds going down the range. We could hear them from the playground at the Great Barr Comp. There were also a couple of bonfires where a lot of the old ammunition was thrown on for destruction that I remembered was accompanied by the occasional bang.

It wasn't unheard of for suitably minded office boys to go home with a number of 22 rounds in their turn ups, remember those, once home the bullet heads would be pulled out the ends squeezed with pliers and then given a sharp smack with a hammer, I still have little fragments of brass
in my legs, and is it any wonder I have tinnitus. I bet they've tightened the security up now.

Brian
 
Brian s said:
Hi

Reading back through the thread reminded me I very occasionally had to go to "Burning Out". A section away from the main works close to the canal, where the ammunition was tested, there were two Bren Guns mounted on stands on concrete blocks, I would stand and watch for some time with the tracer rounds going down the range. We could hear them from the playground at the Great Barr Comp. There were also a couple of bonfires where a lot of the old ammunition was thrown on for destruction that I remembered was accompanied by the occasional bang.

It wasn't unheard of for suitably minded office boys to go home with a number of 22 rounds in their turn ups, remember those, once home the bullet heads would be pulled out the ends squeezed with pliers and then given a sharp smack with a hammer, I still have little fragments of brass
in my legs, and is it any wonder I have tinnitus. I bet they've tightened the security up now.

Brian
Click to expand...
Kynoch's at Witton is now completely demolished. Only the restored gatehouses remain. I think the company name still exists and ammunition produced at other sites?

Thanks for your interesting post, Brian. Lads in Smethwick at school were stupid enough to do this in the 1970s!
Derek
 
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